Manuscripts

Examples of liturgical music in multivolume sets that can be viewed today, such as at the cathedral of Toledo, are close to three feet high. Usually produced and bound in monastic shops, such manuscripts were truly a labor of love. Some of the most beautiful manuscripts created during the 15th century are liturgical works hand copied on vellum, with luminous initial letters as large as eight inches square, depicting saints and biblical figures. King David, who played a harp, was a popular image for manuscript psalters. Unlike mass-produced printed music created for a large market, manuscripts could be executed for quite specific audiences. Each Catholic diocese and monastic community localized both the text and music, making it very difficult for printers to provide standard editions of liturgical works. Moreover, the size needed for choir books made printing prohibitively expensive. As late as the 18 th century, liturgical music for use of the choir was still being produced in manuscript. These manuscripts in deluxe, illuminated copies were valued as gifts in presentation copies. For example, a manuscript choir book decorated with Margaret of Austria’s coat of arms may have been given by her as a gift to Pope Leo X (1475-1521).

For secular music, singers often had manuscript copies of the specific part that each was performing. Called part books, these also appeared in printed versions. In fact, by 1600 most printed music was being produced in this form and not in the scores that we usually think of today. Well into the 17th century, scribes were employed to copy musical texts, especially for operatic performances.